Shrewsbury manager Matt Taylor hopes his players saw how good they can be as Town claimed a 2-1 victory over winless Burton.

Tom Bayliss fired Shrewsbury into the lead in the third minute, tapping home at the back post from a Dan Udoh cross.

The home side then doubled their lead just before half-time with Chey Dunkley heading in from a Jordan Shipley corner.

The Brewers found the back of the net for the first time this season when Mason Bennett pulled one back in the 97th minute but it proved to be a consolation.

Taylor said: “It helps when you score a goal as early as we did. I asked the players for a reaction from Saturday because we weren’t good enough.

“We were braver when we needed to be. Today was more like us and the performance from the first game of the season.

“The only disappointing thing was we conceded because the performance up to then deserved a clean sheet.

“But make no bones about how important that result is. I said to the players at half-time we had achieved nothing yet.

“I spoke to them about understanding they had to do everything they could to win the game, and they did that.

“Genuinely, I think this is huge for us as a group, for the players to understand how good they can be.

“If you had offered me two home wins in the first three matches of the season, I would have taken it.”

The search continues for Burton’s first points of the campaign after their 3-0 thumping against Derby and opening day 2-0 loss away to Blackpool.

Boss Dino Maamria said: “Yes, it is disappointing. It’s been a tough tough start, not just with the fixture list but also the amount of injuries we have had.

“We were forced to change shape and start with a different team than what we would have hoped for, but overall we conceded too early on again and then we conceded late into the half which give ourselves a mountain to climb.

“In between the goals, we played pretty well tonight, and I thought we had created a lot of chances.

“It was frustrating not to get that first goal, especially the first half, because we had some big moments.

“I think if we scored first-half and gone in at 1-1, it would have been a fair reflection on the half.

“But to go in when they scored from a corner in the last kick of the half, it was a real kick in the teeth.

“But I thought we responded well overall in the second and got the goal we deserved.”

Rotherham manager Matt Taylor was unhappy with the decision to dismiss Fred Onyedinma as his side let a two-goal advantage slip during their 2-2 draw against Blackburn.

Onyedinma was sent off just minutes after putting Rotherham 2-0 up early in the second half and the decision to award two yellow cards in as many minutes from referee Bobby Madley angered the home crowd and baffled Taylor.

The decision turned the tide of the game and left the Millers having to hang on deep into added time.

Sammie Szmodics had an eventful game as he missed a first-half penalty and was at fault for Rotherham’s opener before his second-half double secured a point.

“The first yellow is my biggest frustration. We go 2-0 up, it’s Fred’s first goal and there is emotion. He gets pushed into the crowd by his team-mates celebrating,” Taylor said.

“Football is going in a strange direction right now. I know they are trying to make it a better product, but I would argue that it isn’t right now.

“I thought we went through every emotion known to man. We went from jubilation and then a few minutes later Fred gets sent off. At least we got something out of the game.

“I have not enjoyed the first two games of the season. I have seen a whole host of yellow cards for very little.

“We can go through every single moment of the game with frustration. We are gutted we did not take more from that game.”

Szmodics saw his 15th-minute penalty cannon back off the post after Joe Rankin-Costello had been brought down by Cameron Humphreys.

Hakeem Odoffin blasted Rotherham in front after 23 minutes when he latched onto a loose ball from Szmodics and finished emphatically past Aynsley Pears.

Rotherham went from joy to despair in two crazy second-half minutes as Onyedinma headed in Cafu’s free-kick in the 48th minute before picking up two quick yellow cards.

The first came for over-celebrating the goal and he was then shown a second yellow in the 50th minute after gesturing to referee Madley to give a yellow card to a Blackburn man after being fouled.

Rovers started to create more opportunities with the extra man with Tyrhys Dolan, Ryan Hedges and Rankin-Costello all firing just off target.

Szmodics got one back after 75 minutes when he latched onto Adam Wharton’s pass and fired beyond Viktor Johansson.

He then latched onto a defensive lapse and rounded Johansson before firing in the leveller three minutes later.

Rovers had chances to snatch the three points with Harry Pickering twice coming close, but the spoils were shared.

Blackburn head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson said: “It was a bit of a rollercoaster but entertaining for the fans.

“I think the fans will be disappointed we didn’t come away with three points.

“We did not do enough of the right things in the first half. If we score that penalty then it would be a different game.

“I was not happy with the first half. But I must give all my credit to the lads. They got a well-deserved first and second goal.

“I stopped counting the number of chances we created. Rotherham did really, really well and defended with great spirit. So credit to them.

“Sammie is a great lad. You know anyone can miss a penalty. You have people with different characters. Some who want to then come and sit on the bench, but he scored two goals.”

Rotherham boss Matt Taylor was pleased to see his side shake off their weekend hammering at Stoke with a 4-2 Carabao Cup penalty shootout victory over Morecambe.

The Millers were thumped 4-1 in their Championship opener and boss Taylor said his side were “shell-shocked” in an opening 25 minutes against the League Two side where they fell behind to Michael Mellon’s clinical finish.

But Josh Kayode levelled before the break and then debutant goalkeeper Dillon Phillips saved two penalties to earn a place in the second round.

Taylor said: “It was a pleasing building performance, it wasn’t a great opening 25 minutes, we looked shell-shocked from the weekend and that showed.

“We started to build platforms on the pitch and got up the pitch. It was important we scored before half-time.

“It was one-way traffic in the second half and we could have won it, we had enough chances.

“That is maybe where people aren’t feeling great about themselves.”

On Phillips, who was a summer signing from Cardiff, Taylor added: “The biggest reward is that there is another game and that is important for him.

“Dillon needs games, he hasn’t played many games over the last couple of years but we know how good a goalkeeper he is.

“He is providing good competition.”

Derek Adams, whose side won in this competition at the New York Stadium 12 months ago, was proud of his League Two men.

“It was a pleasing performance, especially for a League Two club coming to the Championship,” he said.

“We could have gone ahead before and the goal we scored was an excellent goal.

“It was nothing more than we deserved because we dominated large spells in that first half.

“To come here and do that was very pleasing.”

New boss Matty Taylor heaped praise on Shrewsbury captain Ryan Bowman after his second-half goal secured a 1-0 win over Cheltenham.

Bowman pounced in the 50th minute after Luke Southwood had to dive at full stretch to parry Ben Williams’ header towards his own goal following Jordan Shipley’s cross, ensuring it was the perfect start to Taylor’s reign at the Croud Meadow.

“I can only commend Ryan for what he’s done since I’ve been in the building,” Taylor said.

“He’s been exemplary in his behaviour, he’s in unbelievable physical shape and he’s paid to score goals, which is what he’s done today.

“I am pleased for him, leading the team and scoring the winning goal. I thought it was a dominant performance, without the scoreline suggesting that, because we were excellent, especially in the first half.

“It’s nice to get three points and a 1-0 win at home is the ideal start, even if we should have been out of sight by half time.”

Bowman had shot wide a minute before his goal after a long clearance from Marko Marosi caught out the away defence.

Three Cheltenham staff, including director of football Micky Moore, left for Shrewsbury this summer, meaning there was an extra edge building up to the opening-day clash, but the game did not come to life until late in the first period.

Daniel Udoh turned a low ball from Shipley over for Shrewsbury and at the other end after Liam Sercombe’s shot was saved, Rob Street nearly netted against his former loan club but Morgan Feeney’s fine challenge denied him.

Bowman’s strike partner Udoh, back from a 12-month ACL injury absence, forced Southwood into a block at his near post in the 75th minute as Shrewsbury nearly made it 2-0, but they had done enough.

Robins boss Wade Elliott was encouraged by the way his team finished the game, despite suffering an opening-day defeat.

“I thought the last half-an-hour or so was probably a better representation of what we want to be about,” he said.

“For whatever reason the shackles came off and we looked a bit more like ourselves. For the first hour, it wasn’t a classic, put it that way.

“It was a cagey game and we knew it’d come down to a moment and unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of that moment.

“Before that, ironically enough without having the bulk of the game we probably had the better chances and in the last half-an-hour we took the ball and played with a bit more intent.

“The challenge from us is to have that mindset from the off.”

Rotherham manager Matt Taylor said securing Championship survival was no more than his team deserved and was made all the “sweeter” by their recent history in the division.

The Millers ensured they cannot be caught by Reading in the third and final relegation spot after beating promotion-chasing Middlesbrough 1-0 at New York Stadium.

Boro were reduced to 10 men just before the break when Anfernee Dijksteel was sent off and Rotherham took advantage at the start of the second half when Hakeem Odoffin fired home the only goal of the game.

The victory meant Rotherham staved off what could have been a fourth successive relegation from the second tier and ends a yo-yoing six-year period for the club between the Championship and League One.

A delighted Taylor, whose side go to rock-bottom Wigan in their final game, said: “What has been before for this club makes this moment sweeter. It’s fully deserved. I don’t know how much more this league can throw at us.

“There is one thing running through this club and that is spirit.

“Even had it gone down to the final game of the season I would have been confident. We are going to be better equipped next season. It’s a big achievement for the club.”

The two key moments of the match came either side of half-time, first with Boro losing Dijksteel in first-half stoppage time when the defender clumsily brought down Jordan Hugill on his route to goal and was given a straight red card.

Then, three minutes after the interval, Rotherham went ahead when Odoffin smashed a low shot beyond Zach Steffen from the edge of the box.

That proved to be the winning goal, although there were some nervy moments for the Millers, with Tommy Smith lashing over at the back post and Viktor Johansson pulling off a despairing save from a deflected effort by Jamie Lindsay.

Taylor said of the two main incidents: “Whether it was a sending-off not, I don’t know, but it felt it at the time.

“It was one moment of quality from Hakeem and time stood still before it hit the back of the net.

“Forty-nine points is a good tally with what has been thrown at us. I won’t be seeing the players for the next couple of days.”

Middlesbrough had already secured a play-off place, but defeat in South Yorkshire means they can no longer catch Luton in third and must settle for fourth spot.

Head coach Michael Carrick said: “I have mixed feelings. I am disappointed that we lost the game because that is definitely not what we came here to do. There are things to learn from it.

“I thought the first half for large parts suited them and not us. It was a bit stop-start and set-plays. There was not a lot of football played.

“The sending-off changes the game. It was a little bit harder to create that chance but I thought the boys did a lot of good things.

“I thought the red card was soft. Darragh (Lenihan) was covering him. It caught me by surprise when he got the red card out.

“If we had got that early goal it would changed the course of the game.”

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